Volunteer friendly show

Hi Jon…

Yes, I used to regularly setup consoles for volunteers. It takes quite a bit of programming to be ready. The key is to REALLY sit down and think about what you want and how you want it laid out.

As you're on a Nano, and there are no motorized faders, there are some things you need to keep in mind. Your touchscreen is also going to be key…get the biggest one you can…or two if you can.

Here is how I would lay it out…
Intensities go on the faders. Break things down into groups to allow the most flexibility

Now, on your screen, I would break things down into quadrants.
Top Left Side - Color palettes - row of solid colors (or two), row of dual colors (1/2 the rig in one color, 1/2 the rig in the other color - allowing to you bounce between them..
Bottom Left Side - Beams - (this all depends on your fixtures) - 1 row for Gobo wheel 1 - under that row (if it's capable) stop, slow, med and fast rotation of that wheel
Same setup for Gobo wheel 2 (if it has it)
Top Right Side - Positions - I use the old "keep it simple stupid" method - 7 positions and you should be good to fake it. Band, Cross Stage, XXX, Fan, Audience, Roof, DSC - again, use the row method… 1st row is all fixtures in each of those positions. Second row (like colors), 1/2 the rig in one and 1/2 the rig in band and the second cue swaps them
Bottom Right side - effects - this is where I build stacks for effects…flickers, chases, etc.
Save a bottom row on either side for macros…this will help.
For macros, I usually build a few timing macros and a few page macros. The timing macros take a little getting used to since there isn't a global timing assignment available.
I build [1 Cue Time 0], [1 Cue Time 1] [1 Cue Time 2] and [1 Cue Time 3] (macro is Cue 1 Time 0 Enter). Now the key is that you have to TYPE the list number before hitting the macro (ex. on the keyboard, type LIST xxx and then hit the macro to change the timing. I do another set for a 2 cue stack (like the 1/2 and 1/2 ones)… [2 Cue Time 0], [2 Cue Time 1] [2 Cue Time 2] [2 Cue Time 3] - same thing…you have to type the list number first before hitting it.

(continued in next post)

Apparently, there is a maximum in the post for characters…and I hit it! HAHAHA

(cont'd)

Then you'll want to program some page change macros. Now, since you don't have flying faders, this can get tricky as, once you change pages, you have run the fader up to the current level in order to get control of them (and preferences have to be set for faders to "leave in background". You should be able to use 2 pages depending on how big your rig is. Page 1 for intensities…Page 2 for effects.

For the effects page, build some step chases so you can tap sync them (3-step add, 4-step add, 3-step minus, 4-step minus). These should also be on your "effects" line in the cue list area so you can trigger them from there and only have to jump to the faders to adjust timing. For the other effects in your pool, put them on this page and change the fader to "effect rate" to allow you to speed them up or slow them down.

****Some Notes****
Be VERY careful when programming all of this. Make sure ONLY the information you want to trigger is in the programmer. It can get very confusing at first…watch your parameters and watch your masking.
Also, you'll need to build some "blank" cuelists to turn off 2 cue lists using macro functions.

Now, you're going to have to decide what's easiest for your volunteers…and how much is TOO MUCH. It can all be confusing at first for them…don't overwhelm them. They might look at it and feel like they are driving the Enterprise. I would have several variations (yes, more work for you) depending on the level of volunteer.

New - Colors, positions and intensities
Regular - Colors, positions, gobos, and intensities
Proficient - Give them all the toys

Hope this helps…

@jxgriffi Thanks for the reply, you're a gentleman and a scholar. I'm definitely going to add a bunch of this into the show I've started. And unfortunately you're right on having the variations for volunteer levels, guess I have a lot of work to do.

-Jon

I did not know about the limit Jon, try using fewer words next time. :)

I tend to also use auto launch so the correct show is launched and statup macros so the correct view is recalled

HA! I didn't either. It confused me at first.

Michael is correct…autolaunch and startup macros save "what do I do now?" questions.

Hi Jon,
Just curious why you wouldn't setup a show like this with scenes only.
Use most of the faders as intensity/intensity fx but setup touchscreens with position/colour/beam in scenes?
Is this for playback only or do the volunteers program also?

Best C

For me, I don't like scenes, especially for volunteers because they are a pain in the ass to release when using virtual buttons. If we could toggle scenes on and off, then I probably would. But having to have a second button to release the scene, the page starts to get VERY busy. Volunteers are very gun shy at first, so I like to have clean layouts for them.